Friday, February 26, 2010

Time is a measure of movement, hence of becoming. Why is there becoming? Because every potential being is entirely relative to a being in act which it is attracted to, and that it is through becoming that being in potency meets being in act.

Therefore, not only being in potency is not being, rather a modality of being, the most tenuous at that, it is not anymore becoming. However, it is through becoming that being in potency attains its end by joining being in act.

It follows that being in act is anterior to being in potency from the point of view of perfection, which is the inverse of the (genetic) viewpoint of becoming, where being in potency precedes being in act.

I thus conclude that being is anterior to becoming, and that becoming only exists through being, which manifests itself through the present moment, since only the present moment exists, for neither the past nor the future exist.

The present moment is the victory of Act over Potency, thus of Being over Becoming... an ephemeral victory at that.

Fatima,Glad you liked the post. Metaphysics/first philosophy reaches upstream of our concrete/existential mode of existence and or essential/unversal mode of existence to attain Being (aka being as being).

AH,Nice to e-see you. Good remark! Are you suggesting time travel is possible? (that would be something).

NP,Hello there! I would need to take the discussion further to reach an agreement or a disagreement ;)

To quote another realist thinker, the present is an instant, ie precisely what has no time associated to it... the indivisibility of time, which is not time, but a section of time (as the dot is defined by the section of the line, but is not the line and has no length), section in which, concomitantly, the past reaches its end and the future is borne.

It is impossible to define movement. If it takes me 10 seconds to go 50 feet...how many places have I actually been in? 5...50...50,000...5,000,000 or an infinite number of places? If you say 50...show me! If an infinite number, both time AND movement, in any combination, or separately, DON'T exist. As the White Rabbit said, "I'm late, I'm late..." The White Rabbit will always be late!

We have such finite minds and will someday laugh at our mortal childlike musings on these matters. Time is set up for the purpose of chronicling events, but it is an abstract thing in reality. There is no time nor distance. Time travel is a cinch!

More then the present exists ... The memory creates engergy and therefore that energy can exist. The egyptians for expample did not see the human as one being but actually 7 or 8. These energies all related to the one person. For example one could leave the corporal body and travel and that essence is considered another state of being ....

About Me

As willed, I have translated these musings for a friend ("Avatar" - R.I.P.) who started with philosophy at a very early age. I also entertain an interest in realist philosophy, albeit at a less advanced level. I'm quite happy to answer any comment in this area, to the best of my ability, and in the original spirit of the author - i.e. in the spirit of realistic thought.